Sunday, March 09, 2008

Amazing writing, turn of the century, on early childhood learning and creativity, with illustrations. This work is based on Freidrich Froebel's vision for education of young children, in which " The kindergarten was essentially tri-partite:

toys for sedentary creative play (these Froebel called gifts and occupations)

games and dances for healthy activity

observing and nurturing plants in a garden for stimulating awareness of the natural world

It was a search for metaphysical unity, in which the potential growth to wholeness of the individual child within the natural world would fulfill an harmonious ideal... " Peter Weston in The Froebel Educational Institute: the Origins and History of the College, found reprinted athttp://www.froebelweb.org/.

See a beautiful collection of the Twenty Gifts promoted by Froebel at The Institute for Figuring and think about how those transcend their use for children into sculptural forms that stand on their own.